Do you have enough faith, enough faith to pray even when it seems God is not listening? It is not always easy to maintain faithfulness, especially when it seems God is silent to our pleas for help. The Psalmist wrote; “O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest…” (Psalm 22:2). Many feel they experience silence from God.
We have all experienced this perceived silence of God. We pray for something and the opposite seems to happen. We pray for healing yet still suffer. We pray for companionship yet we remain lonely. This is where faith enters. We are not able to understand God’s ways, yet through faith, we are enabled to believe that God’s mercy endures. Even as we don’t always seem to get what we want, the Holy Spirit leads us through faith to realize God provides what we need.
In our text, the Syrophoenician woman pleads for her daughter’s healing; she believes the crumbs from the Master’s table have the power to save. It is all she needs. Even as we plead, “Lord have mercy” Christ reaches out and fills our empty hands with this same bread from heaven. Christ is the only source for forgiveness of our sin and the promise of eternal life. Through faith in him we are saved.
Do you have enough faith? What do you think? Do you believe that God’s blessings are for you even if you are an outsider? Having faith is not hoping we will get what we want; it is knowing Jesus is Lord. Having faith is believing that no matter what chaos threatens us, we are not alone in the storm. Having faith means knowing Christ is our Lord and our God, and through him only is the way to eternal life.
Prayer: O Lord God, keep us in faith. Amen.
In the Beginning 